Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham

The Right Honourable The Earl of Cottenham PC QC
Lord Cottenham wearing ceremonial robes when presiding in the House of Lords as Lord Chancellor. Detail of a painting by Charles Robert Leslie.
Lord Chancellor
In office 16 January 1836 – 30 August 1841
Monarchs	William IV Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	In commission
Succeeded by	The Lord Lyndhurst
In office 6 July 1846 – 19 June 1850
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	Lord John Russell
Preceded by	The Lord Lyndhurst
Succeeded by	The Lord Truro
Member of Parliament for Malton
In office September 1831 – January 1836 Served alongside Henry Gally Knight, Viscount Milton and John Charles Ramsden
Preceded by	Lord Cavendish of Keighley Henry Gally Knight
Succeeded by	John Childers John Charles Ramsden
Member of Parliament for Higham Ferrers
In office July 1831 – October 1831
Preceded by	Viscount Milton
Succeeded by	John Ponsonby
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office January 1836 – April 1851 Hereditary Peerage
Succeeded by	Charles Edward Pepys
Personal details
Born	(1781-04-29)29 April 1781 Wimpole Street, London
Died	29 April 1851(1851-04-29) (aged 70) Pietra Santa, Lucca, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig
Spouse	Caroline Wingfield-Baker (1801–1868)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Charles Christopher Pepys /ˈpɛpɪs/, 1st Earl of Cottenham PC QC (29 April 1781 – 29 April 1851) was an English lawyer, judge and politician. He was twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.

Background and education

Cottenham was born in London, the second son of Sir William Pepys, 1st Baronet, a master in chancery, who was descended from John Pepys, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, a great-uncle of Samuel Pepys the diarist. Educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, Pepys was called to the bar, Lincoln's Inn in 1804.

Legal and political career

Practising at the Chancery bar, Cottenham's progress was slow, and it was not till twenty-two years after his call that he was made a King's Counsel. He sat in Parliament successively for Higham Ferrers and Malton, was appointed Solicitor General in 1834, and in the same year became Master of the Rolls. On the formation of Lord Melbourne's second administration in April 1835, the great seal was for a time in commission, but eventually Cottenham, who had been one of the commissioners, was appointed Lord Chancellor (January 1836) and was at the same time elevated to the peerage as Baron Cottenham, of Cottenham in the County of Cambridge. He held office until the defeat of the ministry in August 1841.

In February 1841, at the time of the trial of Lord Cardigan for attempted murder, Cottenham claimed ill health, leaving the task of presiding as Lord High Steward to the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Lord Denman. In 1846 he again became Lord Chancellor in Lord John Russell's administration. His health, however, had been gradually failing and he resigned in 1850. Shortly before his retirement, he was created Viscount Crowhurst, of Crowhurst in the County of Surrey, and Earl of Cottenham, of Cottenham in the County of Cambridge. He lived at Prospect Place, Wimbledon from 1831 to 1851. He had succeeded his elder brother as third Baronet in 1845. In 1849 he also succeeded a cousin as fourth Baronet of Juniper Hill.

Family

Lord Cottenham married Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of William Wingfield-Baker, in 1821. They had five sons and three daughters. He died at Pietra Santa, Lucca, in the Italian Grand Duchy of Tuscany, in April 1851, aged 70, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles. Lady Cottenham died in April 1868, aged 66. Cottenham's niece Emily Pepys (1833–1887), daughter of Henry Pepys, Bishop of Worcester, was a child diarist.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Cottenham
• Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1886). "Cottenham, Charles Pepys" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 7. London: Smith, Elder & Co.